


Show and Tell

by Skyler10



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Kid Fic, School
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-14 03:38:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17500811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyler10/pseuds/Skyler10
Summary: Tony Tyler brings the Doctor to show and tell, and the Doctor gets more than he signed up for.





	Show and Tell

**Author's Note:**

> From a nonny prompt at DoctorRosePrompts on Tumblr

 

When Ms. Lila Harrow had dreamt up a show-and-tell day for her class of six and seven year olds, she had envisioned beloved teddy bears, worn family portraits, perhaps a few handheld video games and small pets. She had not anticipated a _person_ being the “plaything you love most.” Leave it to Tony Tyler to interpret the rules in his own way.

 

Tony was incredibly bright but equally mischievous. The kind you weren’t sure if you should appoint class leader or Most Likely to Mastermind a Prank. His parents were always very kind and kept him in line, but he spent plenty of time with his adult sister and her new husband, who was introducing himself to every child and shaking their hands as if he were meeting with new colleagues.  

 

“Tony Tyler,” Ms. Harrow called out. “Would you care to introduce your guest to the class?”

 

“He can do that himself, you know,” Tony answered. “He does talk, quite a lot if you ask my mum.”

 

“Now, now, don’t be rude.” Ms. Harrow sent him a stern glance, which was difficult for her to maintain as the guest looked so taken with the wonders of the classroom. She’d seen the same look in each new crop of students as they walked into the classroom for the first time each fall.

 

“Everyone, meet the Doctor!” Tony proclaimed brightly.  

 

“Hello, Doctor!” the class chimed obediently.

 

“What, just _the Doctor_?” one little girl asked from the front row.

 

“Well,” the Doctor shrugged, long ago used to the question, “you can call me Doctor Tyler if you like. Took my wife’s name when we married. Makes it easier on everyone. See, she didn’t have to change her name and I didn’t have one I was particularly attached to to begin with. Except for _Doctor_. That’s me. So you can call me whatever you’d like, but that’s the one I answer to.”

 

The class giggled at this new form of adult they hadn’t quite encountered before.

 

“Tony,” Ms. Harrow tried to keep the class on track, “can you tell us more about your brother-in-law and why you brought him to show-and-tell today?”

 

Tony stood up straight and adjusted his school uniform’s suit jacket and tie.

 

“The Doctor is my favorite because he is a superhero.”

 

Some of the kids laughed but others gasped in awe and leaned forward in their desks.

“He’s like Iron Man but better! He can make stuff that flies and explodes and one time he took me to the moon…”

 

“Tony,” Ms. Harrow interrupted, “true stories only, please.”

 

“It’s true!” Tony protested.

 

“Ah…” the Doctor interjected, “maybe I can talk about my work. Would that be alright, Tony?”

 

“Yeah! Tell ‘em!”

 

“I’m a scientist for Tony’s dad’s company. I work with all sorts of materials and try to keep us all safe.”

 

“Ah, at Vitex then?” Ms. Harrow inquired. “Keeping us safe from bad health drinks?”

 

The Doctor raised his eyebrows but nodded. “Ah! Yes… Vitex. Tony’s dad’s company. Right!”

 

The little girl on the front row spoke up again. “Is that how you meet Tony’s sister?”

 

“Rose,” Tony filled in. “No, they--”

 

“We worked together, before,” the Doctor interjected. “When she was away…”

 

Ms. Harrow nodded. “Yes, at university, of course.”  

 

“Always a fast learner, my Rose,” the Doctor affirmed without strictly lying to children.

 

Tony rolled his eyes a bit. “He and Rose are always like that.”

 

“Like what?” the Doctor protested.

 

Tony made kissy noises. “Like that. And they get grumpy when they are apart too long.”

 

“Oi!”

 

“It’s truuue. When the Doctor first moved here, he was always mooning, ‘Oh no, what if Rose doesn’t love me anymore.’ At least, that’s what my mum says. I was too little to remember.”

 

The class giggled again.

 

“Well.” The Doctor puffed out his chest. “Apparently she did love me quite a lot, didn’t she?”

 

Tony sighed in exasperation. “Yeah! Of course! Anyway, the Doctor does all sorts of cool stuff. He even built Rose a robot dog.”

 

“We call him K-9!” The Doctor beamed in pride.

 

“And if I’m really good this year, he’s going to make me hoverskates for Christmas!”

 

Ms. Harrow was doing her best to hide her amusement, but failing.

 

“There’s no such thing as hoverskates, not real ones!” a boy in the back called out.

 

“There is so!” Tony returned.

 

“Nuh-uh! Prove it!”

 

“I saw ‘em on… on… a planet you’ve never been to!” Tony’s frustration was mounting. “Tell ‘em, Doctor. Tell ‘em about the other planets!”

 

Ms. Harrow stood up at her desk. “Tony, you know we’ve talked about this. This is quite enough, from both of you.” She sent a glare to the boy in the back of the room.

 

The Doctor knelt down at Tony’s level, whispering so only Tony would hear. “Hey, you know why we can’t talk about that stuff here. Why don’t you tell them about other stuff we do together, here on Earth?”

 

Tony nodded.

 

“The Doctor’s also my favorite because we cook stuff together, even though we usually burn it, but he’s really good at turning off the smoke alarm when it goes off because he’s so tall.”  

 

The Doctor bit his lip. He couldn’t be offended now that Tony was perking up a bit.

 

“And now that I’m a big kid, I can beat him at video games,” Tony said proudly. “I’m a Mario Kart prodigy, he says! It must run in the family, though, because Rose always beats me and the Doctor. But the Doctor tries really hard.” Tony patted the Doctor’s side consolingly, unable to reach his head.

 

The Doctor nodded, embarrassed but willing to suffer just about anything for this kid.

 

“Sometimes the Doctor even helps me with my homework. He says the stuff we learn here is _ages_ behind what he was taught growing up.”

 

Ms. Harrow frowned.

 

“Oh, I didn’t mean it as a bad thing,” the Doctor explained. “I was in a bit of a special school…”

 

“But you said you could teach this stuff to a one-eyed walrus, remember?” Tony asked brightly and turned to his audience. “You should have heard him when he found out we didn’t have recreational maths!”

 

“What’s recreetional maths?” the girl in the front asked.

 

“Does no one in this class remember how to raise their hands?” Ms. Harrow harrumphed.

 

“Oh, it’s alright,” the Doctor replied, attention on the little girl. “It’s when you do maths for fun! Even competitively.”

 

The classroom turned into a sea of tiny scrunched noses and furrowed brows.

 

“It’s more fun than it sounds.” He cleared his throat. “ANYway, the true crime is that you have no robotics program. Now _that_ is where the party’s at.”

 

Ms. Harrow saw her opportunity. “So, when do sign-ups begin?”

 

“What’s that?” The Doctor blinked at her.

 

“The robotics club you’re leading.”

 

“That I’m...?”

 

“Why, yes, of course. Children, I will leave a note in your folders and you can have your parents sign them before you join. We will see you again soon, Doctor. Thank you for volunteering!”

 

The Doctor gulped. Served him right, he supposed, for boasting so much to Tony.

 

Said boy was thrilled.

 

His mother was not.

 

Nor were the 10 parents, half-dozen school officials, firefighters, farmer, and a henhouse of very angry chickens after the first week’s demonstration of an egg retrieval bot went poorly. It had all been going rather well until the Doctor made it spin around to impress Rose, who had come to offer her support, and… let’s just say things got out of (remote) control. And sparked. And ignited.

 

And that’s how the Doctor was banned from volunteering at Tony’s school ever again.

 

It wasn’t all a wash, though. Ms. Harrow got her apology from the Doctor for discrediting her teaching skills in front of her class, Tony thought the Doctor was more “awesome” than ever, and Rose laughed herself to tears every time someone brought up the incident.


End file.
